Can you complete all of your food shopping with items sourced only from your local area? It sounds possible if you're in Darwin — unless you like garlic, coffee, oil, and salt.
More than 300 people have enrolled in the week-long Gulp NT and Coolmob Top End Local Food Challenge, and the withdrawal symptoms have started.
While some are just trying one local ingredient daily, some "survivors" shun anything from outside a 300-kilometre radius — often referred to as watching your 'food miles', or being a locavore.
Jacqui Mitchell from Moulden has set the bar high.
"I'm going to get some roast local beef and render down the fat to make tallow so that will be my oil source," the horticulturalist-by-trade said.
"A challenge like this really takes me out of my comfort zone.
"I'm definitely going to be missing my dairy and gluten things — pasta, rice, bread.
"I've mulled over the salt issue and I can't justify the amount of energy used to fetch seawater and evaporate it off."
She has justified using some solar-evaporated salt from WA which she bought in bulk.
But coffee has been a big loss. And her little coffee plant probably won't feed the craving.
"Coffee does actually grow quite well here if you wanted to be truly dedicated to the cause," she said.
"You'd need a big block to have enough trees to cover a cup-a-day's worth."
You eat the what?
Maya Pillai from Darwin's CBD has been a source of inspiration for many of the participants.
Some of her recipes include fried banana peel and banana peel in coconut curry.
"People never thought that part could be eaten," she said.
"It's good for anyone who can't eat fish — it tastes like fish.
"You marinate it like a fish and then batter it and fry it."
But it has been tough finding one of her favourite ingredients — garlic.
"These days it's all coming from Spain. Not even Australia," she said.
"That was a challenge for me. I use a lot of garlic."
Proper okra Aussies
Carla Eisemberg, from Millner, also has to feed a young family.
Her goal is to introduce a little bit of local food into each meal.
In her work researching side-neck turtles she is in contact with remote communities — such as those in the Amazon in her home country of Brazil, in the Kikori river in Papua New Guinea, and in Timor Leste.
"I see these women and that's how they live and feed their families," she said.
"You really need to plan so your family doesn't go without food."
She is putting local cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and okra into lunchboxes.
"Okra is a big hit," she said.
"The kids eat it raw, which is strange."
'Ate like kings'
A veteran of the challenge is Louise Harrison from Rapid Creek who survived the 'survivor mode' last year.
"We ate homemade gelato with coconut milk, banana, and lime juice," she said.
"We ate like kings really.
"All my money went straight to the growers and there's no plastic or packaging or waste."
She said the first days were the hardest.
"There were a few meltdowns," she said of last year's challenge.
"It takes a bit of planning and preparation.
"You don't want to get to lunchtime and think 'Oh my goodness, what am I going to eat?'
"My mother only ate local produce. It cost a lot more to buy food from other areas.
"It used to be all about local food. Now we've lost touch."
Encouraging 'scrumping'
Karama Primary School kitchen garden teacher Glenys Clarke, from Coconut Grove, is ensuring the local food knowledge is being passed to the next generation.
"Every meal I'm having I try to think if I could put a local twist on it," she said.
"This morning I had fruit for breakfast. I just threw on some bananas and skipped the berries, so threw on some passionfruit.
"I've got chickens so I brought enough eggs to school for lunch, and a teacher gave me some buffalo.
"It's made me think about every meal."
She estimated there were 40 to 50 species of fruit and vegetables growing in the school's garden.
"The kids do a little bit of foraging," she said.
"Sometimes the kids come in and take cuttings to grow at home."
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